Thursday, August 6, 2009

God's Grace Driving Outside of New Jersey

One of the things I love about living in New Jersey is that driving is fun. One of the adventures of New Jersey driving is that most traffic lights take about 15 mintues to turn from yellow to red. So if you are in NJ and you see a light turn yellow, you are going to drive right through that intersection. In fact, the person behind you is also going to drive through, and so will the person behind them. I know two people that were rear-ended soon after they moved here because they stopped when the light turned yellow and the people behind them did not.

I am currently in Maryland with a group of people from my church. John is graciously driving us around in his Suburban. Over the course of the day yesterday we had several conversations about what to do at yellow lights in New Jersey and how different that is from Maryland. On our way back to the hotel from the WorshipGod09 Conference last night a traffic light turned yellow while we approached. John stopped accelerating, but then seemed to be considereing whether he should stop (and possibly be rear-ended) or just drive through the light (and possibly run a red light in an area where the lights might be shorter). John opted for the "safer" choice and went right through the light. But of course that yellow light was far shorter than what we are used to, and we didn't even hit the intersection until after that light had clearly turned red. We were still laughing a block later when a police officer turned on his lights and pulled someone else over who had apparently run a light going the other way.

I guess we received grace from God that we were not in an accident and that we didn't have to try and talk our way out of a ticket. So the next time you are in Maryland, remember that the lights are short. And the next time you are in New Jersey, please keep moving when you see that light turn yellow.